Students, local coach win Scrabble awards
Local Scrabble club players won big at the 2018 North American Scrabble Championship this month.
For the second year in a row, rising Ridgefield sixth-grader Ian Whitehurst was the NASPA Elementary School Champion. This past year Ian competed in in seven tournaments, finishing first in three of them, including the Challenge division of the North American School SCRABBLE Championship, where he and his partner, Kevin Zeng, won all nine of their games and $1,000 each.
His coach, Cornelia Guest, of Bethel, was also named NASPA's 2018 Person of the Year for her work with youth Scrabble. Guest holds a free SCRABBLE Club at Panera Bread in Brookfield every Wednesday night and a program for third through eighth grade from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesdays at the Ridgefield Library. Contact CorneliaSGuest@gmail.com for more information.
Mike Ecsedy, a Brookfield resident who teaches at Joel Barlow, won 19 games to finish 10th in a division of 102 players. Ecsedy, with 29 tournament wins, is the top-rated player at the Brookfield Club.
Another of Guest’s students, Noah Kalus of New Paltz, was named NASPA's top High School Player for the year. Kalus, a rising senior, competed in 12 tournaments, winning five of them, including the High School Division of the North American School SCRABBLE Championship.